What do you see as currently over-hyped coins?

Hmm. Contrary to your thoughts, I must be the biggest 'pure' collector around then as I have never sold a single,bar, round, or coin, EVER, and a phone is a fabulous way to kill time while placing auction bids.

 

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I agree with some of the items on your list. The question is, what is here to stay and what is eventually going to go the way of Beanie Babies? Slabbed numismatic coins will always be in demand, including errors, Morgans, die varieties and other things that some of us may not be interested in but will always occupy a niche. Modern NCLT and bullion items, however, I would place in the Beanie Baby category, along with “first strikes” and other gimmicks.

 

Just occurred to me, another thing I think as underhyped, even though they're technically not coins, would be "Hard Times" tokens. There's a lot of interesting varieties, and they're surprisingly cheap even in higher grades.

 

Hard to predict but my hunch is that the people who paid outrageous amounts for toned and lowball coins are going to be disappointed in the long term. The bogus "get rich quick" stuff ("error" coins mostly) only seems to be getting worse but the suckers and scammers can play in their own pond.

 

Yeah, the only "money" I have earned in the hobby, (in quotes since I never sell), is from PM stuff like buying silver at $4 and gold at $500 and simply age. Most stuff you bought in the 1980s or 90s is worth more today. Beside that, the only reliable way of "making money", (again theoretical since I do not sell), I found was buying into hoards and holding. A recent example is the athenian tetradrachms that hit the market the last 5 years. I bought many around $400-500 that used to be $1500. Well today they are back to $1000 at least as the huge hoard is finally dissipating.

Other than that, coins, especially for collectors, should not be viewed as a money making scheme. My mindset is that I buy coins I love and the price I paid is made up for in my enjoyment. I basically "use up" the value in my pleasure. If my heirs sell for some money then good for them, but I spent what I spent solely for my personal enjoyment. I feel most collectors should have this mindset and only spend "hobby money" on coins, NEVER "investment money". The buy/sell spread is way too huge for that to be a profitable mindset.

 

You can reliably make money, or at least not lose it, if you're searching rolls or change.

But you'd better be getting enjoyment out of it as well, because the time you spend at it all depreciates to zero. Not even Elon Musk can buy more of that.

 

Hear! Hear! I view my cost of collecting as a rental fee for the pleasure provided.

If you go a movie, the rental fee for pleasure is entirely consumed (especially at their popcorn prices). If you buy a car, there is a huge depreciation and any pleasure gained comes at a high cost.
Coins mostly have a relatively low rental cost, at least if held for a while. It helps to judiciously choose your purchases and not overpay. But even with the overhead costs associated with selling, most of the coins I purchased four or five years ago were sold in the past year at slightly higher or lower in nominal dollars than my purchase price. So, my rental fee was essentially the opportunity cost of that initial cash outlay.

As I write, I'm prepping a shipment of raw and certified coins to go to GC for auction. I have identified those that are likely to do well for me and those that will disappoint. That will be another lesson in what to buy and what to steer clear of. Nothing educates like failure!

 

Ah, yes, "tuition". As long as you're not funding it with student loans.

 

@medoraman . Well said. James